Introduction - Transformation is possible
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Is change possible? We have all heard the expression "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" and met people who just refuse to move with the times, learn or grow. Is it really possible for anyone to change, transform, and grow. What percentage of your life is determined by your DNA, up-bring or childhood versus conscious willpower and growth as an adult?
We have all seen the heroes journey in movies where a character learns a lesson, goes on an adventure and changes their life in a convenient 90 minute movie format. But is this kind of superhero change really possible for us mere mortals? Can we really build any life we want to ? |
Is change possible for the non-super heroes amongst us? Alan is so inspired by the movies and how anything seems possible but is this true in real life?
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This book is designed to help you if your life isn't quite where you want it to be yet! Maybe you are stuck in a job you don't like, leading a life that doesn't fulfil you, or maybe you actually have everything you have ever dreamt of but still aren't satisfied? This book is designed to help you create the life of your dreams, but before we even get to that; first we have to believe 100% that change is possible for us.
The book project
Welcome to my book writing project where my mission is to create a book that will transform your world; where ever you are. I want to write a book that has huge value to you and helps you create the life of your dreams. The idea is that this will be a short and simple book that will provide you with the tools to turn around or transform your life from where you are today to where you want to be in the future.
It is a bold goal and I am super excited to create it for you. So far I have published a list of chapter titles and asked for your votes, and then run several writing mini-experiments to find the style that works best for me.
This is the next step in the mini-experiment. Writing the first draft of chapter 1 on the blog for you. Below are the chapter titles I had proposed for chapter 1 of the book.
It is a bold goal and I am super excited to create it for you. So far I have published a list of chapter titles and asked for your votes, and then run several writing mini-experiments to find the style that works best for me.
This is the next step in the mini-experiment. Writing the first draft of chapter 1 on the blog for you. Below are the chapter titles I had proposed for chapter 1 of the book.
33% of you voted for "Transformation is possible" as the introduction title, so that is what we are going with! You never know what people want until you ask them!
Over the next three weeks I am going to release one chapter a week for you to read and tell me what you think. I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your help in making this as good as it can be. Please don't worry too much about typos as those will be picked up throughout the process; what I would really LOVE your help on is the content.
If you could please write a comment at the end, so I have all this in one place, about what struck you, what annoyed you, what I missed, where I am wrong, what needs developing or more explanation, what I need to spend more time on.
My hope is that this will help you and that you will help me make it even better for the next people that read it.
THANK YOU.
Here is the introduction to my book.
Over the next three weeks I am going to release one chapter a week for you to read and tell me what you think. I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your help in making this as good as it can be. Please don't worry too much about typos as those will be picked up throughout the process; what I would really LOVE your help on is the content.
If you could please write a comment at the end, so I have all this in one place, about what struck you, what annoyed you, what I missed, where I am wrong, what needs developing or more explanation, what I need to spend more time on.
My hope is that this will help you and that you will help me make it even better for the next people that read it.
THANK YOU.
Here is the introduction to my book.
Transformation is possible - Introduction
I am sat on the balcony of our apartment overlooking the bay of Banderas in Jalisco, Mexico. The skies are blue, the sun is shining and I have a coffee sitting next to me as I type. Sometimes I have to pinch myself that this really is my life. I am a "retired" millionaire travelling the world with my wife, exploring, and experiencing.
In the past year my business, Rebel Business School won a Queen's award for enterprise for the work we have done around the world helping people to build businesses without debt. My wife, Katie (She is going to be a huge character in this book, so remember her name! lol) and I have launched a finance school teaching thousands how to take control of their money and change their lives. We do this in our spare time as we travel the world and eat all the Mexican tacos possible.
Why am I telling you this? Obviously to brag about how good my life is! lol.
The reason to tell you this is because people see my life today, who I have become and assume that it all make sense and I was born to do this. They don't and can't see where I came from.
In the past year my business, Rebel Business School won a Queen's award for enterprise for the work we have done around the world helping people to build businesses without debt. My wife, Katie (She is going to be a huge character in this book, so remember her name! lol) and I have launched a finance school teaching thousands how to take control of their money and change their lives. We do this in our spare time as we travel the world and eat all the Mexican tacos possible.
Why am I telling you this? Obviously to brag about how good my life is! lol.
The reason to tell you this is because people see my life today, who I have become and assume that it all make sense and I was born to do this. They don't and can't see where I came from.
Life wasn't always this way
What people can't see is where I started from.
Katie always laughs when people come up to me after delivering a presentation and say "You are so lucky to have those presentation skills!" She knows what is going through my head. "LUCKY?? LUCKY?? I worked for 10 years to be able to deliver presentations like this.
I wish I could give you a time capsule to my childhood to see what I went through on the journey to where I am today. This is not a competition for who had the worst childhood; it is just to show that what you see today wasn't always so.
I remember vividly at junior school seeing a big group of class mates in the school play ground. I wanted to be part of the gang so desperately. I asked what they were doing and one of them shouted at me, "We are all in the I hate Alan Donegan Club".
I remember feeling angry and rejected, disappointed and upset as I ran away to sulk in the corner.
The bullying got worse and worse through my years at school. I just wanted to fit in, to be a part of the gang and play with the others, but I never did.
I remember feeling so proud one particular day because the captain of the rugby team asked me to come and hang out with them after homework. I thought, this is it. I changed and got ready. I walked through the school to where he had said to meet and there was no one there. I walked to the other side of the school to find no one.
I thought maybe I got the location wrong, so I searched and started asking people until I saw they were somewhere completely different. They didn't want me to hang out with them; they just sent me off somewhere else. I ran out of school and to a pub opposite and sat on the swings, crying for hours until my Mum came and picked me up.
Even before school started I was painfully shy. I remember being taken out by my parents for Chinese food one night. It was an amazing restaurant and we ate some fabulous food. There was someone in the restaurant playing the piano and they asked for suggestions of what to play. My Dad wanted me to go up and suggest a song and give them £5. I remember my Dad telling me to go and handing me the money and I didn't want to. I felt so embarrassed, I went red and the more my Dad tried to push me away from the table, the more I clung for dear life to the chair I was sat on. I burst into tears and just wanted to hide under the table. I don't even remember why I felt this way. I only remember the burning pain and heat in my body at the thought of talking to a stranger in front of other people.
Being so painfully shy, easily embarrassed and sensitive made school so painful and difficult that I didn't want to go. I didn't want to go to school at all. My Mum had to take me to school and I could see the pain she was experiencing as I clung to her and wanted to just stay in the car and go straight back home.
It became so painful at one point that I remember endless nights lying in bed thinking about suicide to stop the pain. I don't know where the idea came from, but I just wanted to run to the window and throw my self out of it to end the pain that I was in.
Night after night I lay in bed crying because I couldn't do it. I couldn't commit suicide because of the impact it would have on my Mum and her love. I knew that she loved me so much, she cared for me, loved me and helped me. I was so deeply loved and I couldn't do it to her, but I was ripped in two at this point. The only way I knew how to end the pain of bullying, of not fitting in or the torture of school was to commit suicide, but I couldn't do it because of my Mum's love.
Things got worse when my Dad decided one day at home when we were talking about bullying to tell me that it was my fault. As an adult I know he was trying to help me to accept my role in the bullying. Every bully needs a victim and I was playing that part expertly. As a pre-pubescent teen I couldn't take it and my anger exploded at him; my uncle who was there with us had to hold me back as I tried to hit my Dad.
I screamed "How can it be my fault? How can the bullying be my fault? They are doing it to me, you don't understand!"
Looking back, I find it amazing I survived my teenage years.
Katie laughs at me (in a nice way) because I just don't remember parts of my childhood. Who needs to remember that kind of pain? I believe the best thing about the past is that it is in the past. I can choose to revisit the nice memories of time with my Mum, playing with my family and just let go of all the painful ones.
So what changed? What happened? How did I go from bullied victim to sitting on a beach in Mexico living my dream life?
Katie always laughs when people come up to me after delivering a presentation and say "You are so lucky to have those presentation skills!" She knows what is going through my head. "LUCKY?? LUCKY?? I worked for 10 years to be able to deliver presentations like this.
I wish I could give you a time capsule to my childhood to see what I went through on the journey to where I am today. This is not a competition for who had the worst childhood; it is just to show that what you see today wasn't always so.
I remember vividly at junior school seeing a big group of class mates in the school play ground. I wanted to be part of the gang so desperately. I asked what they were doing and one of them shouted at me, "We are all in the I hate Alan Donegan Club".
I remember feeling angry and rejected, disappointed and upset as I ran away to sulk in the corner.
The bullying got worse and worse through my years at school. I just wanted to fit in, to be a part of the gang and play with the others, but I never did.
I remember feeling so proud one particular day because the captain of the rugby team asked me to come and hang out with them after homework. I thought, this is it. I changed and got ready. I walked through the school to where he had said to meet and there was no one there. I walked to the other side of the school to find no one.
I thought maybe I got the location wrong, so I searched and started asking people until I saw they were somewhere completely different. They didn't want me to hang out with them; they just sent me off somewhere else. I ran out of school and to a pub opposite and sat on the swings, crying for hours until my Mum came and picked me up.
Even before school started I was painfully shy. I remember being taken out by my parents for Chinese food one night. It was an amazing restaurant and we ate some fabulous food. There was someone in the restaurant playing the piano and they asked for suggestions of what to play. My Dad wanted me to go up and suggest a song and give them £5. I remember my Dad telling me to go and handing me the money and I didn't want to. I felt so embarrassed, I went red and the more my Dad tried to push me away from the table, the more I clung for dear life to the chair I was sat on. I burst into tears and just wanted to hide under the table. I don't even remember why I felt this way. I only remember the burning pain and heat in my body at the thought of talking to a stranger in front of other people.
Being so painfully shy, easily embarrassed and sensitive made school so painful and difficult that I didn't want to go. I didn't want to go to school at all. My Mum had to take me to school and I could see the pain she was experiencing as I clung to her and wanted to just stay in the car and go straight back home.
It became so painful at one point that I remember endless nights lying in bed thinking about suicide to stop the pain. I don't know where the idea came from, but I just wanted to run to the window and throw my self out of it to end the pain that I was in.
Night after night I lay in bed crying because I couldn't do it. I couldn't commit suicide because of the impact it would have on my Mum and her love. I knew that she loved me so much, she cared for me, loved me and helped me. I was so deeply loved and I couldn't do it to her, but I was ripped in two at this point. The only way I knew how to end the pain of bullying, of not fitting in or the torture of school was to commit suicide, but I couldn't do it because of my Mum's love.
Things got worse when my Dad decided one day at home when we were talking about bullying to tell me that it was my fault. As an adult I know he was trying to help me to accept my role in the bullying. Every bully needs a victim and I was playing that part expertly. As a pre-pubescent teen I couldn't take it and my anger exploded at him; my uncle who was there with us had to hold me back as I tried to hit my Dad.
I screamed "How can it be my fault? How can the bullying be my fault? They are doing it to me, you don't understand!"
Looking back, I find it amazing I survived my teenage years.
Katie laughs at me (in a nice way) because I just don't remember parts of my childhood. Who needs to remember that kind of pain? I believe the best thing about the past is that it is in the past. I can choose to revisit the nice memories of time with my Mum, playing with my family and just let go of all the painful ones.
So what changed? What happened? How did I go from bullied victim to sitting on a beach in Mexico living my dream life?
The turning point
The turning point happened when I was 21 years old. I had survived school and started to find a place in life. I was working for my Dad in his sportswear business (that was what I had always dreamt of doing at school!) and living at home. I had a good set of friends and was earning a little bit of money. Life was good until everything changed in an instant.
My Dad cheated on my Mum, he assaulted her, blamed me in the court case, and everything was disintegrating. I took my Mum's side and knew I could no longer work with my Dad. I decided to go and see my girlfriend at the time and ask her to come away on holiday with me to escape. I had always wanted to go to Brazil and experience the beaches, football and culture so I asked her if she wanted to come, I knew she didn't have the money so I offered to pay.
She told me that she didn't love me any more and wanted to break up. I was destroyed. In that moment I had lost the woman I loved, my job and my future and my family all in one foul swoop.
It was at this point that the universe intervened and changed my life forever. A guy called Matt, who also worked for my Dad, saw the pain I was going through and he gave me my first ever self-development book.
With my Mum's support I decided to go to Brazil on my own. Looking back I wonder how I had the confidence to do this, travelling to Brazil on my own!?? I think I just had nothing left at home to live for and had to escape.
I took the book with me and went to Brazil. Brazil was a whole adventure in itself that I wrote my first ever stand-up comedy set about. I sat on Copa Cabana beach and read that book from cover to cover. I was BLOWN away by the concepts, ideas, and challenges in the book.
Three weeks later I came back from Brazil, a changed man full of focus and drive. I was going to help my Mum fix the financial mess that my Dad left us in. I was going to get back my girl and find a job.
I never did win back my girl, but that one book changed my life and my direction for ever. It inspired me on a path of self-development, reading every book I could get my hands on, going on the courses, and working on my life.
You can track so much of where I am today to that one moment where Matt handed me the book, stared me in the eyes and said "you need this."
That one book set me on a path that didn't exist before.
My wish is that this book does this for you what that book did for me.
My Dad cheated on my Mum, he assaulted her, blamed me in the court case, and everything was disintegrating. I took my Mum's side and knew I could no longer work with my Dad. I decided to go and see my girlfriend at the time and ask her to come away on holiday with me to escape. I had always wanted to go to Brazil and experience the beaches, football and culture so I asked her if she wanted to come, I knew she didn't have the money so I offered to pay.
She told me that she didn't love me any more and wanted to break up. I was destroyed. In that moment I had lost the woman I loved, my job and my future and my family all in one foul swoop.
It was at this point that the universe intervened and changed my life forever. A guy called Matt, who also worked for my Dad, saw the pain I was going through and he gave me my first ever self-development book.
With my Mum's support I decided to go to Brazil on my own. Looking back I wonder how I had the confidence to do this, travelling to Brazil on my own!?? I think I just had nothing left at home to live for and had to escape.
I took the book with me and went to Brazil. Brazil was a whole adventure in itself that I wrote my first ever stand-up comedy set about. I sat on Copa Cabana beach and read that book from cover to cover. I was BLOWN away by the concepts, ideas, and challenges in the book.
Three weeks later I came back from Brazil, a changed man full of focus and drive. I was going to help my Mum fix the financial mess that my Dad left us in. I was going to get back my girl and find a job.
I never did win back my girl, but that one book changed my life and my direction for ever. It inspired me on a path of self-development, reading every book I could get my hands on, going on the courses, and working on my life.
You can track so much of where I am today to that one moment where Matt handed me the book, stared me in the eyes and said "you need this."
That one book set me on a path that didn't exist before.
My wish is that this book does this for you what that book did for me.
Was success instantaneous?
behind every overnight success is ten years of trying and failing
People tend to look at where you have got to and think, wow, you are so lucky. They can't and don't see the years of heartache, sweat and pain that go into building an extraordinary life.
Was my success instantaneous?
First off, success is very subjective. What success means to you is very likely to be different to what success means to me. Someone can look at someone else and say "Wow, you are so successful" but that other person doesn't feel it.
There is a kind of standard definition of success that society, schools and the media teach us. The rough model of success accepted by the western world is a nice house, a nice car, kids, and a good job. This seems to be the measure of success that a lot of people and parents measure us all by.
By western measure of success I am VERY unsuccessful. lol. Technically I am homeless and unemployed! We have just sold out our apartment in Basingstoke and don't have a home, and even when we did family members would ask "When are you going to move into a proper home!" Occasionally, when I am asked, "What do you do?" I like to tell people I am homeless and unemployed. They look horrified.
By other western measures I am a huge success. I built a successful business that has won a Queen's award and become a global movement. I am married and have an incredible wife and we have become millionaires together over the years.
Success is relative and later in the book we are going to explore what it means for you and help you work out your definition. One thing is certain, you shouldn't just accept the definition handed to you by the media and society, you need to decide for yourself.
Was my success instantaneous?
NO WAY! It took a long long long time and there were so many lessons to learn along the way.
Here is a rough outline of my journey:
Things didn't happen that quickly. It took time, effort, and learning. It took changing my beliefs, changing the way I thought, and continuous effort. That work I did following the book changed the course of my life forever. It wasn't all plain sailing either; there were some rollercoaster highs and lows along the way.
Looking back, I didn't go at it properly and apply my learnings as well as I could have. I could have made so much more progress. But then if I hadn't messed things up along the way, I wouldn't have had the learnings that I needed to get to write this book.
My business partner Simon likes to say that the only reason we are qualified to run the Rebel Business School courses is that we have made ALL the mistakes along the way so we can show the next generation of entrepreneurs what not to do. Our course is built from all the things that we tried that didn't work, combined with some of the stuff that worked spectacularly well.
So as you read this book you can learn from my mistakes and avoid them, and then we can go out there and make new mistakes together.
Was my success instantaneous?
First off, success is very subjective. What success means to you is very likely to be different to what success means to me. Someone can look at someone else and say "Wow, you are so successful" but that other person doesn't feel it.
There is a kind of standard definition of success that society, schools and the media teach us. The rough model of success accepted by the western world is a nice house, a nice car, kids, and a good job. This seems to be the measure of success that a lot of people and parents measure us all by.
By western measure of success I am VERY unsuccessful. lol. Technically I am homeless and unemployed! We have just sold out our apartment in Basingstoke and don't have a home, and even when we did family members would ask "When are you going to move into a proper home!" Occasionally, when I am asked, "What do you do?" I like to tell people I am homeless and unemployed. They look horrified.
By other western measures I am a huge success. I built a successful business that has won a Queen's award and become a global movement. I am married and have an incredible wife and we have become millionaires together over the years.
Success is relative and later in the book we are going to explore what it means for you and help you work out your definition. One thing is certain, you shouldn't just accept the definition handed to you by the media and society, you need to decide for yourself.
Was my success instantaneous?
NO WAY! It took a long long long time and there were so many lessons to learn along the way.
Here is a rough outline of my journey:
- I got handed my first self-development book at 21 years old. I read it and started to take action
- I went through a series of jobs in my twenties, ultimately failing at nearly all of them
- I spent a decade fighting the bank and my Dad's debts to try and keep the family home for my Mum
- 25 I had a HUGE life melt down and decided to travel to Costa Rica to Volunteer, which is where I met my wife Katie
- I travelled all the way to Costa Rica, 5,379 miles, to meet a girl from Uxbridge
- I came back home and got another job
- I started to go on self-development seminars culminating in a 2 week long advanced Practitioner NLP course
- I got fired and went on to employment benefits at age 29. I felt like a complete failure
- I couldn't find a job that I wanted so decided to start my own business
- Flew to America to go on the NLP Train the Trainer program with Richard Bandler
- Went to the British gov for help starting my own business. They did more to put me off running a business than they did to help
- Spent two years trying to make money and get going
- Started to find my stride offering presentation skills and time management courses. I was making money. This was the first time I really started to feel like I was making progress 9 years after I read my first self-development book
- 2012 launched Rebel Business School with my business partner Simon
- Grew Rebel Business School
- Katie and I went from almost zero net-worth to £1million invested over the next decade from 30 to 40 years old
- The compounding effects for my learning and effort really kicked in around my mid-30s and life changed forever
- We hit financial independence at 40 years old (my age, Katie will be quick to point out she is younger!)
- We built Rebel Finance School to give back and help people take control of their finances
- I feel like I am only just getting warmed up and as I type this I am 43 years old
Things didn't happen that quickly. It took time, effort, and learning. It took changing my beliefs, changing the way I thought, and continuous effort. That work I did following the book changed the course of my life forever. It wasn't all plain sailing either; there were some rollercoaster highs and lows along the way.
Looking back, I didn't go at it properly and apply my learnings as well as I could have. I could have made so much more progress. But then if I hadn't messed things up along the way, I wouldn't have had the learnings that I needed to get to write this book.
My business partner Simon likes to say that the only reason we are qualified to run the Rebel Business School courses is that we have made ALL the mistakes along the way so we can show the next generation of entrepreneurs what not to do. Our course is built from all the things that we tried that didn't work, combined with some of the stuff that worked spectacularly well.
So as you read this book you can learn from my mistakes and avoid them, and then we can go out there and make new mistakes together.
Your turning point
The moment Matt gave me that book, when I needed it the most, changed the course of my life forever. Maybe you have bought this book for yourself or been gifted it; it doesn't really matter. My hope is this book can be the catalyst for you to start creating the life of your dreams. My hope is that this book changes your life forever, positively.
Sounds like a bold statement. Looking at it slightly differently; it doesn't take a lot to shift your future. If you change course 1 degree today based on what you have read and then one degree the next day and continue to make small changes that positively compound in your life over the coming years, you will end up in a completely new world.
Let's imagine that after reading some of the stuff on investing and financial independence you make a decision to start to save. Let's imagine that you put $200 away a month into a Vanguard broad-based index fund. Doesn't sound like a lot, does it?
Well, if you were 25 years old when you did this, and this was the one action you took out of the book, you would be a millionaire by 64 years old.
I don't think people really realise that if they take small consistent steps towards the life they want, those steps and efforts compound over time to create a phenomenal life. All you need to do is take the exercises and information in this book and apply it to your life over time.
Now imagine if you made a minor tweak to your finances, to your work life, to your personal life, and then started to compound those over the years! Where will you end up?
It is a bold claim and actually one I have NO control over whether it happens or not because I am 100% reliant on you taking action from the book and making it happen. I can't do it for you. This book is inanimate and can't do it for you. You can though.
My bold claim lies completely in your hands and you can have it if you want to have it but it is 100% down to you.
Sounds like a bold statement. Looking at it slightly differently; it doesn't take a lot to shift your future. If you change course 1 degree today based on what you have read and then one degree the next day and continue to make small changes that positively compound in your life over the coming years, you will end up in a completely new world.
Let's imagine that after reading some of the stuff on investing and financial independence you make a decision to start to save. Let's imagine that you put $200 away a month into a Vanguard broad-based index fund. Doesn't sound like a lot, does it?
Well, if you were 25 years old when you did this, and this was the one action you took out of the book, you would be a millionaire by 64 years old.
I don't think people really realise that if they take small consistent steps towards the life they want, those steps and efforts compound over time to create a phenomenal life. All you need to do is take the exercises and information in this book and apply it to your life over time.
Now imagine if you made a minor tweak to your finances, to your work life, to your personal life, and then started to compound those over the years! Where will you end up?
It is a bold claim and actually one I have NO control over whether it happens or not because I am 100% reliant on you taking action from the book and making it happen. I can't do it for you. This book is inanimate and can't do it for you. You can though.
My bold claim lies completely in your hands and you can have it if you want to have it but it is 100% down to you.
It all starts with a belief
I am sure you have all heard the quote from Henry Ford a million times "Whether you believe you can or you believe you can't you are absolutely right."
It has become a bit of a cliché, but there is an important message based on this that I have had mixed feelings about over the years.
I first started to learn about beliefs in that very first self-development book. My initial reaction was amazement that something as simple as your beliefs or how you habitually think can have such a drastic effect on your life.
I changed my beliefs over night, but my results didn't show up as quickly as I wanted and I went through a period of doubting the power of these ideas. I got angry, I have changed my beliefs but nothing has happened, this is BULLSHIT, I angrily shouted.
Belief alone is not enough
You may or may not have watched the movie The Secret, which talks about manifestation and your belief has the power to create. It is a brilliant movie, but they left one HUGE thing out of it. You can't just sit in your house and believe that you can learn and do anything, visualise it, and then it just comes true. That is not how the world works.
Believing something is possible alone is not enough. If you shift your beliefs, start to believe it is possible for you to become wealthy (which I think it is) and then do nothing about it, then nothing will change. Belief alone is not enough to change your life. However......
Lack of belief guarantees failure
The opposite is, however, true. If you don't believe something is possible then you will either never try it or when you do try it you will engage in self-sabotaging behaviours. When you don't believe something is possible but try anyway quite often you will get the proof you need to back up your belief it isn't possible.
How many times have you heard people say things like "I tried but I knew it wouldn't work?" The reason it didn't work is because you didn't believe it would and you didn't give it enough of a try.
Beliefs are so powerful they can make you blind to opportunity.
I remember when I was younger, sitting around the dining room table for Sunday lunch with the family. My Mum had cooked a feast and as we sat there eating the Yorkshire Puddings she would say "Alan I forgot to bring in the mint sauce"
I didn't want to get up and get it. I was enjoying my food.
"I don't know where it is Mum"
"It is in the cupboard, be a darling and go and get it"
Up I would get in a huff and go into the kitchen. I would look up and down the cupboard and not see it anywhere. Annoyed, I would shout back to the dining room
"I can't see it"
"it's on the second shelf down, right at the front"
I CAN'T SEE IT"
Mum gets up from the dining room table and comes into the kitchen, reaches into the cupboard right in front of me and grabs it saying "There it is"
How did I not see it? How did I not find it?
I believed I didn't know where it was and I was looking for proof to back up my belief that I didn't know where it was. Was I being a bit of an ass? Maybe, but I genuinely didn't know where it was and had convinced myself of that. I looked in the cupboard but couldn't see it.
My belief that I didn't know where it was warped my view of reality, so I saw what I wanted to. Your beliefs about what is possible and not are warping your view of reality right now. As you read the words I am writing you are either thinking, "Alan this is fascinating and I am excited to see what beliefs I have and change them" or you are starting to look for proof that what I am saying is bullshit and will not work for you.
Your beliefs are so powerful and persuasive that they will change the way you see the world and change your behaviour so you get the results you believe you should. Some of you might be having one of those beliefs come up right, not telling you to stop reading this book. If you think what I am saying is not possible for you, that is the first belief we need to change together if we are to have any chance of success.
For the sake of our journey together and for the possibility of this book working for you, I need you to suspend your belief of what is possible or not for you and work through the book. I need you to suspend belief long enough to work through the exercises and take action because
The magic combination
Belief + energy + action over time = results
First, you need to believe it is possible for you; or at the VERY least, believe that it is not impossible for you! Secondly, we need to get your energy, excitement and motivation flowing and then we need you to take consistent action over time. Success wasn't instant for me. I had to change my beliefs, crank up my energy, and make shit happen consistently over the years. If you can do that, then the world is yours.
This brings us to chapter 1: The extraordinary belongs to those that create it.
It has become a bit of a cliché, but there is an important message based on this that I have had mixed feelings about over the years.
I first started to learn about beliefs in that very first self-development book. My initial reaction was amazement that something as simple as your beliefs or how you habitually think can have such a drastic effect on your life.
I changed my beliefs over night, but my results didn't show up as quickly as I wanted and I went through a period of doubting the power of these ideas. I got angry, I have changed my beliefs but nothing has happened, this is BULLSHIT, I angrily shouted.
Belief alone is not enough
You may or may not have watched the movie The Secret, which talks about manifestation and your belief has the power to create. It is a brilliant movie, but they left one HUGE thing out of it. You can't just sit in your house and believe that you can learn and do anything, visualise it, and then it just comes true. That is not how the world works.
Believing something is possible alone is not enough. If you shift your beliefs, start to believe it is possible for you to become wealthy (which I think it is) and then do nothing about it, then nothing will change. Belief alone is not enough to change your life. However......
Lack of belief guarantees failure
The opposite is, however, true. If you don't believe something is possible then you will either never try it or when you do try it you will engage in self-sabotaging behaviours. When you don't believe something is possible but try anyway quite often you will get the proof you need to back up your belief it isn't possible.
How many times have you heard people say things like "I tried but I knew it wouldn't work?" The reason it didn't work is because you didn't believe it would and you didn't give it enough of a try.
Beliefs are so powerful they can make you blind to opportunity.
I remember when I was younger, sitting around the dining room table for Sunday lunch with the family. My Mum had cooked a feast and as we sat there eating the Yorkshire Puddings she would say "Alan I forgot to bring in the mint sauce"
I didn't want to get up and get it. I was enjoying my food.
"I don't know where it is Mum"
"It is in the cupboard, be a darling and go and get it"
Up I would get in a huff and go into the kitchen. I would look up and down the cupboard and not see it anywhere. Annoyed, I would shout back to the dining room
"I can't see it"
"it's on the second shelf down, right at the front"
I CAN'T SEE IT"
Mum gets up from the dining room table and comes into the kitchen, reaches into the cupboard right in front of me and grabs it saying "There it is"
How did I not see it? How did I not find it?
I believed I didn't know where it was and I was looking for proof to back up my belief that I didn't know where it was. Was I being a bit of an ass? Maybe, but I genuinely didn't know where it was and had convinced myself of that. I looked in the cupboard but couldn't see it.
My belief that I didn't know where it was warped my view of reality, so I saw what I wanted to. Your beliefs about what is possible and not are warping your view of reality right now. As you read the words I am writing you are either thinking, "Alan this is fascinating and I am excited to see what beliefs I have and change them" or you are starting to look for proof that what I am saying is bullshit and will not work for you.
Your beliefs are so powerful and persuasive that they will change the way you see the world and change your behaviour so you get the results you believe you should. Some of you might be having one of those beliefs come up right, not telling you to stop reading this book. If you think what I am saying is not possible for you, that is the first belief we need to change together if we are to have any chance of success.
For the sake of our journey together and for the possibility of this book working for you, I need you to suspend your belief of what is possible or not for you and work through the book. I need you to suspend belief long enough to work through the exercises and take action because
The magic combination
Belief + energy + action over time = results
First, you need to believe it is possible for you; or at the VERY least, believe that it is not impossible for you! Secondly, we need to get your energy, excitement and motivation flowing and then we need you to take consistent action over time. Success wasn't instant for me. I had to change my beliefs, crank up my energy, and make shit happen consistently over the years. If you can do that, then the world is yours.
This brings us to chapter 1: The extraordinary belongs to those that create it.
Thanks for reading the introduction to my book
Next week I will be publishing chapter 1 ready for you to have a look, and the week afterwards I will be publishing chapter 2. I am planning on leaving the posts up on the blog for about 4 weeks in total. That is all the time you have to read them this time and comment.
At this point I am going to take the blogs down as I work through the process of turning it into a book. I still haven't decided if I am going to work to get a traditional publisher or self-publish, and as such I don't want anyone telling me the book isn't original content as it has already been published somewhere!
At this point I am going to take the blogs down as I work through the process of turning it into a book. I still haven't decided if I am going to work to get a traditional publisher or self-publish, and as such I don't want anyone telling me the book isn't original content as it has already been published somewhere!
Thoughts please!!
Please take a moment to tell me what you thought. If you only have a second tell me what you loved and what you hated. There is Facebook commenting just below for you to write in so it collates all the comments right here on this page for me.
If you have a couple of minutes I would love some proper feedback from you, what was missing, what was awesome, what made you go "bullshit Alan"; what made you believe that change is possible? Your thoughts and help are gold dust to me, they are the value that is going to help me turn this into something that actually delivers on that bold promise at the start of the book.
Thank you
I know life is busy so I have been thinking about how I can say thank you. When you leave me a comment below and help me develop the book, I will immortalise you in print in the acknowledgements section of the book. I want to acknowledge the people that helped me along the way!
Thank you for reading.
You rock
Alan
PS Facebook commenting is just below before you go onto Chapter 1
If you have a couple of minutes I would love some proper feedback from you, what was missing, what was awesome, what made you go "bullshit Alan"; what made you believe that change is possible? Your thoughts and help are gold dust to me, they are the value that is going to help me turn this into something that actually delivers on that bold promise at the start of the book.
Thank you
I know life is busy so I have been thinking about how I can say thank you. When you leave me a comment below and help me develop the book, I will immortalise you in print in the acknowledgements section of the book. I want to acknowledge the people that helped me along the way!
Thank you for reading.
You rock
Alan
PS Facebook commenting is just below before you go onto Chapter 1
Chapter 1Thanks for reading the introduction to the book. If you enjoyed it then onwards to Chapter 1. Click on the picture or here to move to chapter 1.
There is Facebook commenting below for you to add your thoughts, corrections and more! THANK YOU for reading |
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Disclaimer:
It appears that the Facebook comments aren't showing up for some people. I had a look into this and apparently Facebook blocks the comments section for people who aren't logged into Facebook on the current browser. This also means that if you are using a phone, you will need to be logged into Facebook on the browser, not just the app if you want to add a comment. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a fix for this.
It appears that the Facebook comments aren't showing up for some people. I had a look into this and apparently Facebook blocks the comments section for people who aren't logged into Facebook on the current browser. This also means that if you are using a phone, you will need to be logged into Facebook on the browser, not just the app if you want to add a comment. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a fix for this.
